Turn on the radio or television or log in to your social media accounts and you’ll likely see messages about the holidays being “the most wonderful time of the year”.  While that may be the case for many of us, we may also find this time of year to be one of the most stressful.  We’re feeling the pinch of having to wrap up year-end projects at work.  We’re overwhelmed with our finances and the supply chain crisis and how this will impact our holiday shopping.  We’ve been indulging in holiday goodies and our waistbands are feeling a too tight for comfort.  On top of all of that we’ve got Covid and the worry about new variants and how this will impact us and our loved ones.  Despite these challenges, it is possible to enjoy the holidays and do it safely.  Here are five strategies to help you stay safe and well this holiday season.

5:30 am on a hot, hazy summer July morning.  I sit down on my favorite spot on the couch with a cup of coffee and look out the window.  I take a deep breath.  I love this time of day.  It always feels so peaceful…like the whole world is still asleep and I have it all to myself.  The clouds are low and I can almost see the humidity in the air.  It looks like the house in the clouds…like what you’d see if you were looking out the window on an airplane when you’re flying through the clouds.  I can see the clouds rolling over the roof of the breezeway.  I’ve never seen the clouds move like that before, move over the roof like that.  In that instant I’m thinking how beautiful it looks and at same time, how odd.  And then for some reason I get the sense that something isn’t right.  I put my coffee down on the coffee table and step outside….and I see it…and I smell it…smoke billowing out of the attic above our garage.  It wasn’t the clouds I was seeing rolling over the roof.  It was smoke.   I’m strangely calm as I step back into the house and yell to my husband, “The attic is on fire!”